Hospitals are increasingly required to have dental staffs, who commonly operate in the hospital operating rooms. This invention has particular application to hospital dental surgery, but it also has application to any surgery in which a rotary surgical tool such as a handpiece mounted drill or burr or small saw is used. The terms "drill" and "dental drill" are used hereinafter to encompass any such surgical tool, complete with handpiece or other mounting device to which gas and liquid connections are made. Hospitals have been ill-equipped to accommodate the dental staffs in respect of dental drill operating equipment. Often, dental surgeons have brought their own equipment. It is undesirable to use electrically operated tools in the operating room because of the danger of sparks. One approach to hospital-supplied equipment that was tried was a portable drill operated by compressed air. In this equipment, made during the early 1960's by Star Dental Manufacturing Company of Philadelphia, Pa., most of the tubing connections were permanent, and when the reserve water tank was autoclaved, which had to be done frequently because the tank was small, the attached tubing tended to rupture. The use of compressed air necessitated the provision of a separate ceramic air filter, and if compressed air tanks were used, they were not sterile. A needle valve was used to control the flow of water, but certain carbon steel components rusted. The manufacture of the equipment evidently ceased after about five years.
The present invention provides solutions to the problems that led to the abandonment of that apparatus.
One of the objects of this invention is to provide portable surgical drill apparatus suitable for use in hospitals that is simple in construction and operation, easily sterilized, easily used, rugged, long-lasting, and safe, as compared with apparatus known heretofore.
Other objects will become apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the following description and accompanying drawing.